If you just look at the score of last week’s game you might not think too much about what went wrong for the Pittsburgh Steelers. A 24-20 loss is unfortunate but you might assume the game was close in most aspects. But this was not the case. The 49ers outplayed Pittsburgh in most phases but there was one area where the discrepancy really stood out.
Time of possession.
The Steelers only had the football for 23:43. 13 possessions and only two of those drives lasted more than two minutes. Even the team’s two touchdown drives were short. Combined the two scores took less than two and a half minutes.
What this means for the rest of the team is the defense could never rest. In the second half, the 49ers put together sustained drives and you could see the defense was tired. This has been a trend all season long. It is less a case of conditioning and more about the scheme.
This once again comes back to the dead horse we’ve been beating since last season. Run the football. Keep the clock running, give your defense a breather and keep the chains moving.
Pittsburgh has to find a way to sustain drives with Rudolph under center. This team has too much talent to flounder week after week on offense.
